How to Maintain a Healthy Mac

How to Maintain a Healthy Mac

Similar to PCs maintenance, Macs also need attention to help with their performance. Our professional technicians put together a guide to assist in basic upkeeps to help with your Mac’s performance.

Macs are just as vulnerable accumulating spyware, having unnecessary files, disorganized hard drives, and of course, VIRUSES!

By regularly performing the maintenance tasks below, you can keep your Mac running safely and smoothly, and enjoy the benefits of having a secure and reliable computing experience. Download our tips here to read later!

1. VIRUSES

A computer virus can copy itself and spread from one computer to another. It’s recommended to have a valid and updated version of anti-virus software installed (and running at all times) on your computer. As a Mac user, you are susceptible to getting Mac only viruses!

These are files that allow publishers to observe your Internet browsing activity, record your credit card numbers, and present you with unwanted pop-up advertisements. The presence of spyware is typically hidden and can be difficult to detect. An accumulation of spyware can severely slow down your OS device, and cause it to crash or behave abnormally. To be protected, make sure you have an up-to-date spyware software installed.

Firewall Security settings are very important when protecting your computer, especially when using a computer away from your home or office. A software firewall can prevent direct access to your computer and files. Be sure to check every three months to ensure your firewall profile is active.

4. UNNECESSARY PROGRAMS

Many computers store a large number of programs which are never used. This tends to clog your computer over time. iTunes collects apps you install on your OS device. We recommend deleting apps via iTunes to see which ones you are deleting or if you prefer to save time, you can use the Reduce Clutter tool. Perform this once every three months.

5. UTILIZE ACTIVITY MONITOR

If your computer suddenly or periodically becomes slow, you may be experiencing a temporary bottleneck. The 4 most common bottleneck areas are:

a. CPU
b. Memory
c. Disk
d. Network

Take a look at Activity Monitor, this will show you how your Mac is running. From the CPU and Memory columns, you can see which applications seem to be demanding a lot from your system. You can “quit” the app, without deleting, until you need it next. This is also handy to see if you have web pages you are no longer viewing still running in the background to close out.

6. REBOOT YOUR SYSTEM

After the maintenance routines have run, reboot the system twice. The first time you reboot the system may run a little slow while the boot caches and other caches are refilled. Rebooting a second time should have things running normally again.

7. UPDATE YOUR MAC

OS updates bring useful behind the scenes improvements to your computer, some may even boost performance. We recommend updating while on a secure Wi-Fi network and make sure you set aside time for the update to complete.